Deeper Gashes
by Vanessa S. Quest
Summary: Sequel to Bullet Wounds, the story continues after Weiss learns that their mission is only partly done... and with a teammate injured, have to find a way to finish up before their new targets finish them.


Deeper Gashes

by Vanessa S. Quest

When Manx came into the shop it was later than usual, nearing 10PM Yoji was out for the night. And with him playing his cards right he might also be out until the next afternoon, truthfully. Ken had just gotten to bed but was already out for the night, which was fully understandable, he'd been running around ever since the mission two days ago to help Aya and Omi, well, to help Omi technically as Aya was also helping Omi. During the last mission Omi had taken a bullet to the shoulder, though both luck and Aya did a very nice job of keeping that factor a small obstacle.

Luck presented the first kindness by making the wound reach a strangely painless area, missing a few nerve endings and saving Omi from a whole world of hurt that comes from hitting a nerve. Aya granted the next kindness by doing a great job in the extraction and stitching… between Omi obediently refusing to use that arm and the swordsman's good threadwork and extraction of the pesky bullet Omi could hardly feel the wound, only noticing it when his shoulder was jarred accidentally the one or two times during the last two days.

Ken, who reported to Manx on Omi's injuries while Aya remained to treat him, was giving Aya the time to nurse Omi's injury, though Omi doubted his head wound each and every time he recalled the very end conversation before he fell asleep, blacked out, whichever. Either one it was, when Aya carried Omi back into Koneko and he started to flutter his eyes open, he did notice a relatively implied smirk- not a smile a smirk, a completely new look that gave him chills- into his bedroom. Omi blushed brightly but didn't question it. He wanted to figure this out without a head injury… or headache.

That smirk though, it was so different then the soft smile reserved for his sister and sister-clone. That look was gentle, supportive, and kind. It was a warm look strictly to make the receiver feel loved and protected. This smirk had an entirely more sinister look, intent once those wounds are healed, that made Omi turn pink. The look made him feel on fire, not in danger but not secure, if anything insecure but challenged to find that security in the gaze, for some reason it reminded him of how a wolf would meet the gaze of a bear. The bear had no fear, knew it's capability, but the wolf would know its disadvantage but know it had a shot in hell-- if it moved very carefully. VERY CAREFULLY.

Aya was still in Omi's room playing the roll of nurse- or doctor, whichever. Omi still felt exhausted so had been drifting in and out of consciousness all day, strictly in the form of sleep, honest! Actually roughly on the hour he'd either take a fifteen-minute nap or start zoning out. Sometimes he'd sleep for the whole hour and then at night he couldn't stay asleep for more than a four-hour stint. At the moment Omi was in an 'awake' period.

Manx had let herself in, casually and met Aya in the kitchen. He had radar for movement, well… okay so poor analogy as radar is for objects in motion, but either way he sensed it and hadn't thought it to be Omi.

No, Omi was following his order and staying in that bed to at least pretend he was asleep if only so Aya could go to bed after bringing Omi his water.

Aya glanced at Manx. "Konban wa."

Manx smiled, "Moshi-moshi. Gather everyone up and meet me in the mission room."

Aya's eyes widened for a moment then returned to calm. "Yoji isn't here and Omi's in no state."

"Well you'll just have to tell Yoji to come home immediately. I thought that was implied when I said everyone."

Omi leaned against the door, apparently he was getting tired, "Manx? Konban wa." He looked at Aya sleepily and drudged towards the mission room to plop onto the couch. Aya touched his eyebrow then grabbed the phone.

Inside the mission room Ken claimed the seat next to Omi, the two tired Weiss finding as comfortable of a spot as the other's presence on the couch made possible. Aya leaned against the wall.

"Yoji will be here in ten more minutes." Aya's eyes locked onto Manx's. "Now what is this about?"

She smiled in intrigue, Aya was challenging her, she always found this fun if that was the right word. It was a challenge to her, to obedience, authority, systems-- and yet by being challenged she had the chance to assert her strengths too, turning it into a chess game that usually led to a draw because both had the same goals.

The red haired woman pivoted towards the screen, hair flipping upward with the motion. "There is a complication to the mission. From what Omi retrieved- the targets are still alive."

Ken swore, "What are you implying! I killed them with my own hands!"

She shook her head, "No, you killed who you were assigned to kill, who we believed to be the targets, but they were not the leaders of the entire organization, just one of the branches."

Omi touched his shoulder, "Do you now know who the real leaders are?"

Manx nodded, "Yes, and they have an idea about who Weiss is. They haven't found out any of your personal information yet but it is a matter of time, Weiss needs to strike first. Before they try to pick each of you off individually."

This time the blond bishounen clawed at his shoulder, he was being a liability… he started to look down at his knees.

Aya noticed Omi out of the side of his eye. Strutting up to her confidently he took the file, "Is this all the information we'll need or do we need additional research into locations?"

"At this point I'd say they aren't going to be foolish enough to meet together. The closest you'll get will probably be to attack on different nights or subdivide the group." She glanced at Omi then back to Aya, "But I don't suggest that tactic."

Omi looked further down, shoulders slumped to a near-painful position.

"I'll leave you to brief Yoji. It is in each of your best interests to accept this mission and have Kritiker's backing, so should I assume you're all in?"

"Hai." Omi said in a very strong voice, inner resentment inlaid with his confidence. Aya looked at the boy directly this time but then added his usual calm tone.

"I'm in."

Ken yawned and stretched, "O' course I'm in… the mission isn't over yet and I already 'cepted it."

She bowed, "Alright then. Good evening, and rest up you'll need your energy."

Manx walked passed Yoji as he opened the door to the apartment.

"Aw man! Hey wait a second-- what's this about Manx! Manx…" He brooded, now he had to mooch the information off of Ken-ken. "K'so." Yoji grumbled he just missed a blowjob and a chance to hit on Manx- that was Yoji-abuse.

Aya meandered towards the back of the couch he put his hand on Omi's uninjured shoulder. "Omi, are you alright?"

Ken gave Aya a worrisome look; Aya was usually never this physical? Is that the word? Why was Aya being so kind to Omi all of a sudden? Well, okay that definitely isn't the right description; out of anyone in Weiss the residing ice-queen would smile at Omi most, and yes, smile. Ever notice Aya in the flower shop? If Omi was there that scowl typically softened but Omi would never believe that, after all- what else does he have to compare it off of? The fact is, Aya was going above and beyond what he would normally do to comfort the boy and that was a strange thing to Ken. After all he was kind of used to the prick who'd bossed him around in monosyllables.

Omi nodded then gave Aya a cheery smile void of meaning. Sometimes Aya just wished that boy would save his smiles for sincerity, even the hollow ones were pretty but his sincere ones made your skin melt. Aya turned to face the wall adjacent to Omi, leaning into the arm of the couch. This was just like him so really it came as no surprise.

"What do you want to do with this then, divide up or take this on different nights?" He glanced back towards the two figures on the couch. Omi bowed his head.

"Manx is right, if we divide up I'm pulling someone down and risking all of our safety, but if we take it on different nights they have a chance to leave the country or gather more intelligence on us, plus… the longer they're alive the longer their captives suffer. I say we divide up." Omi turned to look Aya in the eyes showing his conviction.

Ken glanced back to Aya casually. "He has a point, but so does Manx. What do you think?"

Aya shook his head he had no idea. Which really was the worst route? It was rashness stirring Omi to action but reason was still in the wing, but Manx's approach was over-cautious and ran the risk of running out of time, Omi was correct in his assumption that being too slow would lead to Weiss's demise more so then the Dark Beast's.

"What about a relay?" Aya suggested, pondering it already. "One of us goes out for surveillance of the next target while the rest of us hunt down the first, we rotate between Yoji, you and I." His eyes met back at Ken's. Omi looked back and forth at them feeling neglected. "That way we always have a group of three, and a back-up."

"Sounds sane enough. Omi?"

The blond blinked back at Ken for a moment, "Hai, it's a great idea Aya-kun, Ken-kun."

Aya looked at Omi. "Omi."

The boy looked up at the stoic leader. "Hai Aya-kun?"

His eyes made his order clear Omi lifted a coaster. "Ken-kun, onegai, catch this." Ken turned to see a disc being hurled at his chest, the goalie did as instinctive and caught the object, hand stinging from the force. "Arigatou!" Omi smiled very glad the coaster did not break anything.

"Did that hurt?"

"Mm." Not a yes or a no, Aya looked at Omi a bit forcefully. He lowered his eyes from Aya's glare; it was still too confusing to see it. "No, but if I do it too much it will." Aya's eyes softened with the honesty.

Omi touched his head a new wave of tiredness and confusion. Ken poked Omi in the eyebrow. "Come on Omitchi, I'll walk you back to your room." Ken let out a sleepy yawn and gave Aya a tempered glance reading a similar message that they all needed to rest up.

The blond cut through that message easily enough. "No thanks Ken-kun, I want to review the files."

Ken stood up, hands gestured to surrender, "Fine, I'm going to bed then, night."

Aya waited for Ken to be well out of sight before glaring down Omi. "What is it?"

Omi blushed nervously and looked at his hands, how did Aya know--

"What did you need to talk about?" Omi turned a deeper red. "Are you even going to answer me, or just keep changing colors?" Omi's face was hurting, he felt like he was so red he'd turned purple.

Trying to grab as much of his dignity and courage left, "Aya-kun… what happened after I hit my head?"

Aya gave Omi a bewildered glance.

"I don't know if I was hallucinating something or not… would you please tell me?"

Aya turned to face the wall, "Go to bed."

"…" Omi froze did he just offend Aya? Did he really say those things out loud? "…" Omi stood there in shock, "A… hai." Omi took a step back then proceeded to fall back onto the couch, unconscious.

Gold flew back before instincts could be taken over by logic, as Omi fell back into the couch Aya's heart burnt. "Omi!" He put his hand to his head, Omi was pushing himself too far, Aya sighed. He knew perfectly well that Omi would not back down from this mission either, even though he had no reason to continue with it. "Omi no baka."

††Weiß††

A wire flung through the air just in time to snare the legs of a bodyguard as the man struck at Ken. Turning in for the kill Ken dragged his Bugnuks up the man's chest, panting. "Aya, we've got this covered, go."

The red head looked at Omi once, the blond smiled softly, drew a dart and flung it at the target trying to get away. "Aya-kun, go! We'll meet up with you soon."

That was where he left and Aya was already regretting it. He didn't like the idea of just leaving Omi behind, true all of Weiss were skilled fighters but Omi was still wounded- and he certainly didn't forget how the boy passed out at the drop of a hat the night before. As he went to follow the lead he felt ill. Aya had the pleasure of going through one of the 'Home Offices' that was littered with both near-lifeless and lifeless bodies of victims past. Some of the survivors were nothing but skeletons covered with skin and welts. Other, newer toys were already so bruised it was hard to tell their natural tone under all the marks. As he came to the center of the building he saw the man responsible for this, all of these crimes.

To his horror, he saw the man on a television screen being broadcasted from a vaguely familiar site- where he had left the other three Weiss. Aya near flew from his location back towards the site they had split from. When he returned to see that so far Weiss had the upper hand he took in a meaty breathe of relief. Omi hurled a dart passed Aya's ear, the red head turned to see a set of a dozen rush forward. Taking out his sword he sliced one of the armada up the middle.

As the count rose, so did his anger. Four of the dozen were making their way towards Omi in a rather angry fashion and Aya could see the crimson draw through the white shirt under his black assassin's jacket as the boy spun to fling more darts, his arm had to be crippling. Two of the men threw themselves forward in different directions at Omi and before he had a moment more one was on top of him, the other twitching on the ground with a dart through his jugular. The luckier of the two spun Omi around so his back was pinned to the man's front. Twisting at Omi's good arm, he put the tip of his blade to Omi's neck.

Omi winced as he realized what he had just let happen as the man grinded into him. Aya's glare locked onto the man behind Omi. At that instance Aya had wished he had some training in projectiles if even an iota of what Omi had. Ken halted mid swing through one of the last of the dozen, the sole survivor left had the rest of Weiss in a stalemate.

"Stay right there and he won't be killed. I'm taking him on a fieldtrip. If any of you follow he dies, if you come after anyone else in the organization he dies. You." He tugged on Omi's stiffening arm, "Do you want to die?"

Omi winced how could he let this happen, be such a fuck up twice in the same week?

"By the silence I take it he doesn't and by your silence I see you don't want it to happen either."

His head was spinning, 'No… no, no, no, no… not now!' Omi mentally chanted but to no avail, his eyelids fell down limp, as did his weight.

††Weiß††

His eyes fluttered open and he could tell he was in a bad predicament. And that was putting it mildly. His arms were tied behind him, his jackets were crumpled in the corner and a rather perverted man sat in between his legs facing him, plus he was in a moving van and gagged.

GAGGED. What the hell? Insult to injury or what? He also noticed that his shoes were off but socks remained. Omi blinked daftly for a moment.

Wait a second, if the pervert is in between his legs and he's in a moving vehicle who's MOVING the vehicle? Omi leaned his head to the side to get a glimpse of a driver and passenger sitting in the front. VERY bad predicament.

A hand went for Omi's chest and his whole body went a degree colder. The hand wandered over his chest without regard, groping at him like a piece of meat. Was this man really that stupid? He knowingly has an assassin in his presence and he's actively choosing to molest him? Omi internally noted that correctly he was an incapacitated assassin, the smallest one of four, and disarmed at the moment, but still! Bad form for the bad-guy.

The hand turned a bit rougher, and towards the right as it groped downward over Omi's abs, this wasn't going to stop at just this unwanted advance, was it? Omi's eyes narrowed, that's it. The man is a moron. If not for the fact that OMI is an assassin but for the fact that he is in a team of FOUR ASSASSINS and therefore there are three pissed off able-bodied assassins out hunting this man down and he's going to do this! His skin is going to be pealed off. No, really, that's it, there's no other real choice but a horribly slow and excruciating death for an act this stupid.

As expected the grope became a bit rougher still and moving more and more south, now reaching over Omi's high thigh and working inward. Big blue eyes snapped open when the hell did he decide not to stop this or at least attempt to? How could he even be certain that the others even knew where he was let alone had a way of getting to him? He bucked his knee to the side, hitting his attacker in his back. He simply chuckled and pressed forward into Omi, pushing him into the paneling. Omi's eyes widened then returned to their normal size.

Cold fingers brushed against his warm skin, Omi lost another degree of body-heat, they wrapped around his shorts and with a fast jerk he wore his boxers a bit low. He felt the other hand roam to below his right knee and press it up hard, with the left hand working in time to get his shorts and boxers further and further away from their intended location. Using his left leg Omi threw a kick into the man's neck, sending him into the paneling to Omi's immediate right.

The passenger looked over his seat to observe then gave a look to the driver. The driver merely accelerated. Omi's attacker also chose to accelerate, grabbing Omi roughly by the hair and shoving him callously into the floorboard, strands of gold ripping from his head, he bit into the gag. Another hand joined at Omi's throat, closing around the pathway and siphoned his airway just 'til his eyes drew hollow.

With the struggling now greatly reduced he made fast work of discarding Omi's shorts and boxers, the shorts hap hazardously flung towards his jacket while his boxers lingered around his ankles. Omi's eyes batted into clarity as a figure was extracted from his attacker's pants. Omi's eyes grew and the boy let out a shocked scream that sounded like a muffled, "Nh!" in protest. The first feeling was horrendous, as something foreign and hard was pushed quickly into a hole seven sizes too small for it.

He felt dizzy, his head hurt, and his back was starting to throb in a rhythmic rip as his attacker pushed up harder into him. Vision doubling, tripling then fading Omi again tried resisting, this time by thrashing his legs wildly regardless of the soreness it brought onto himself. He struggled with his restrained arms, shoulder yelling at him but none as loud as the ripping feeling that moved up his back and made his stomach turn in revolt. A dirty smile crept up his sweaty attacker's face as he grabbed Omi's knees and pushed them up into his ribs. Omi started to scream through the gag only to struggle to regain his breath. He could feel himself being torn into two.

Several deeper, more violent thrusts and he pulled out, blood dripping onto the van floor. As his excitement near climaxed he finished his load over Omi's head, the blond flinched and turned out from under it causing the seed to mix with his golden strands of hair instead of the intended location of his face. The rough hands grabbed Omi by the sullied roots and tossed him into the paneling, each time his head hit the metal his eyes saw brighter and brighter sparkles that took longer and longer to fade each time they were induced.

As the man pulled Omi closer, readying for another painful push back into the now-dented paneling, Omi kicked his near useless legs off of the panel diving on top of his assailant. His wrists slipped from their binds finally after what seemed like an eternity of struggling with them. He pulled his arms forward and started to move his arms up and down in a rampant barrage of flailing punches and slaps.

Unbeknownst to Omi as to how he saw the motion out of the corner of his eye, given how much they were blurred and his hysteria but he knew the passenger was now beside him, a syringe in hand, one of his hysteric slaps turned into a chop across the other's wrist, the near silent sound of something snapping other than his sanity ringing in his ears clear as church bells. His hand slipped around the syringe turning it into a dart. He stabbed it into his attacker's throat and injected it, not really caring what it was, after all they were dead men anyways, right? Returning his only weapon in hand he turned to face the frazzled looking passenger, spinning the syringe in his hand he pulled back the plunger filling the chamber with air. Omi kept twirling the syringe, never giving it a steady location to be grabbed at. His eyes were wide though irises shrunken to a third of their normal size as he glared into the new opponent.

Not new to this game either, with a flick of the wrist the man extracted a folded traditional fan hidden in his sleeve. He flicked it open giving him some coverage from the boy. He too then began folding and unfolding his fan, circulating it rhythmically to distract his objective before striking at him. Had it been anybody but an assassin this rouse would have easily worked, had it been a regular assassin it may have had a shot at working, but with Omi? The blond caught his wrist with his hand, his own injured shoulder falling silent in protest as all time held no meaning to him. With the needle in hand he stabbed into the man's vein and injected the full pocket of air. Another set of wide eyes, matching the ones of horror as the corpse beneath him Omi noted as the remaining few seconds of the new attacker faded into naught.

His arms dropped limply as reality washed back making his brain chip away from shock to forgetting to present with the speed of hummingbird wings, Omi pulled the gag off of his mouth, not fully aware that he was screaming the instance he did so nor how long it went before he stopped. He was vaguely aware that the driver now had a gun pointed at him and he was nearing a highway entrance, grabbing for his clothes quickly, Omi successfully got his shorts and one shoe before pressing himself into the van door.

"Are you really that foolish? We're driving at 70 Km per hour. You don't know where you are, and neither do your friends. You're in no condition so why don't you just sit down and shut up." He smiled, "Or are you suicidal enough to kill me? Or should I say homicidal as you're sure to cause a crash and who knows what or who I'll hit."

Omi's vision was doing it again, fading and clearing in timing with his heart.

He fell into the door, he felt tired again. He sat next to the freshest corpse for a moment. Picking up the fan to look at it, he unfolded it then folded it again. Staggering forward to the passenger seat, he sat next to the driver.

"…" Omi smiled at the man with perplexing dangerousness. He gave the man a very genki smile. "I don't really care if you pull over or not." He slashed the fan across the driver's neck, blood hit the van glass. The speed tapered to a mere 40 Km/ph. Stabbing the used syringe once more into the van inhabitants, he gouged at the driver's inferior vein cava, he pulled out the plunger shaking his finger and dove out the car door over an overpass.

With a bit of rolling and a thup Omi opened his eyes with a sense of vagueness; he hardly recognized his collection of injuries.

Somehow Omi managed to hit a plush, grassy hill. He let the vagueness he had felt cover him in a wave before snapping to realization about his current predicament.

Ideally, the driver would think he had a chance to live if he drove to a hospital or something, probably noticing a steady bleed about now, it didn't really matter though, he'd be dead within thirty minutes or quite possibly less; Omi on the other hand was wounded, and his lower half nude. Remedying that he pulled up his boxers gingerly, attempting to get his shorts on next, he quit after attempting to bend down a second time. His whole body hurt and he had no idea where he was.

Omi fulfilled the assessment then added inwardly, "How am I going to get home… where're the others…?" He sniffled back a set of tears, a pair of rivers replaced them soon after as he began to bawl. Wrapping his arms around his chest he closed his eyes to try and sleep, find some form of peace even if that meant going back to the numb blackness of the forgotten.

His heart stung with that, a thought not quite long enough ago to be foreign pleading at him to think of what the hell he just invited himself to do. 'Never forgive, never forget…' Omi opened his eyes, 'Aya-kun…' he rolled over onto his stomach and pushed himself off the ground with one arm, kneeling at first he forced himself to stand, dizzy soreness also reminding him his vow not to forget, and the way it ached at his body, sure as hell not to forgive him either. Omi groaned and in a drunken walk made his way towards a rarity in this day and age- a pay phone.

Omi fell into the glass wall inside the booth, blood smearing as he went. He lifted the receiver and called Aya's cell phone in hope.

††Weiß††

Rage swallowed him as they simply let that bastard walk away with Omi's slumped figure in his arm, knife to his throat, so of course the first thing he did, after demolishing the corpses with his sword a bit more, was get in Yoji's Seven and attempt to trail them. This of course after he sent Yoji and Ken to murder every last one of them out of mercy not having it being him to do it.

When they had gotten to the first set of highways they had managed to lose Aya, which had him livid. He had to stop afraid he'd cause an accident, the sting of that rising in the back of his eyes with a maelstrom of pure rage. He took in a few breathes hoping to push himself far enough outside of himself in meditation that he could put up a wall of no-emotions if only to be able to help Omi if he could find him.

Of course, just as he neared that point his phone vibrated into his hip.

Yes, Aya brought his cell phone with him, it was an alternate form of communications if they were separated and the comm.-links were A. out of range or B. one-sided. As it were, both held true. He glared at the phone, it was either Kudou or Hidaka, or Omi.

'Omi.' He turned the phone on, "Hn." He made it clear his presence was noted, he didn't want to bring up his hopes, but he couldn't help but note that wherever Yoji or Ken were calling from was relatively near… by?

"Omi!"

"…h… H… Hai… ai… Aya-kun, help…" Omi slid further down the glass.

"OMI! Where are you!" His eyes went wide, a new hope in him, he pushed back this relief to give himself an emotionless calm, he had to be calm if only on the surface, he had to be strong, Omi could be hurt, afraid, alone or much worse, surrounded.

"…I… I don't… I saw… sign for Roku…Yattsu… exit 68. Aya-kun… help…"

Aya glared at the nearest entrance, 59. "Omi?"

Aya noted with a smug smirk that the Seven really was a fast car, especially if you knew how the hell far you had to get within minutes.

He listened carefully to how Omi sounded, "Are you alone?" he finally asked. He heard a flustered set of syllables that took him a moment to register.

"They're all dead." Omi looked into his shaking hands amazed that he was holding the phone so tight. "I…"

"I'm on the exit now. What else did you see?"

"…was a hill… fell down it…" his head throbbed, "what happened…"

"Omitchi?" Aya gave the cell phone a very frightened scowl. "What else do you see?" He noticed the hill near the road, was this it?

"…a street… no one there…" He glanced down the hill, spotting a low-traffic street his gaze followed up and down it finally in the distance spotting a phone booth.

"Omitchi?"

"…dare ga watashi…" Aya held the cell phone to his side as he pulled up to the phone booth.

"Omi…" He put his hand on the glass, gently tapping it. "Omi!" Glassy eyes looked up at the figure outside of his glass barrier.

"Aya…kun… gomen." He closed his eyes again.

Hanging up the phone he gently slid Omi into the Seven and called the others. "Shop. Ima." He hung up on each of them before questions could be asked.

††Weiß††

The blond stared into his reflection in the kitchen window. Ken looked at him with measured worry.

"Omi…? Oi, Omi have something to eat, onegai…"

The blond seemed deaf to Ken's requests, Ken slid the plate in front of Omi's arms, putting a set of chopsticks before him.

"Omi."

The blond slowly turned, "Konnichi wa. Donata wa?"

Ken sighed. "Eat already, chibi."

Omi smiled in a genki pose then turned to look back at the glass.

Ken swore bitterly under his breath wondering the merits to destroying all reflective objects in the building. He reached over Omi and drew the shades. "Oi, Omi. Eat."

Omi's stomach gurgled and he blushed. "Gomen ne, arigatou!"

Ken swore to himself, he was babysitting Omi waiting for the others to come back with more medical supplies. The brunette soccer player hoped that it wasn't his best friend in shock or reminiscing with amnesia but in fact that he looked like a floating cabbage or something random from a hallucination induced with just half the amount of pain medications Omi was on.

The blond poked the food with the chopsticks, not even holding them right. Ken twitched. The blond just continued to poke at the food, finally resorting to using one chopstick to stab into the noodles and held it mid air trying to coax it into his mouth. Pouting as this technique failed Omi put the chopsticks down gracefully over the bowl and turned to lean into the window, tired. His eyes caught glimpse of his reflection and he seemed to fall into it again.

"Omi!" Ken scowled, how the hell was he supposed to baby-sit this? Omi smiled back towards Ken.

"Konnichi wa. Donata wa?"

Orbs of brown turned to heated fire. "That's it I'm getting a name tag… you DO remember how to read kanji, right Omi?" He paused, oh gods, again? "Omi?"

"Konnichi wa. Donata wa?"

Ken fell to the ground with a plod. Omi turned away from the glass to notice the sight. He started to giggle mildly. "Ohayo Ken-kun!"

He smiled brightly at first, then grabbed his head, pain seemed to be radiating off of him as he slid to the ground. "Oi… Omi?"

"Ngh…" Omi wrapped his arms around his waist, clawing into his sides.

"Omi?" He plowed his blond hair into his chest, tucking his knees upward as a headrest. "Omi!" He reached to put a comforting arm on Omi's shoulder.

A very loud scream then informed him that was an incorrect solution as he quickly extracted his hand. "Gomen! Gomen ne Omitchi!"

Blue orbs went hollow then reformed. Wobbly legs pushed themselves upward, miraculously able to hold weight, Ken noted, blaming the painkillers. The boy wobbled to the couch and fell onto it, he reached for a conveniently placed blanket. Ken remembered when Yoji had laid it there.

"Not like it's the same but I've had some WILD sex before and in cases of that, you're too stiff to go hunting for something let alone aware enough to know where to find it. The chibi needs some recuperation time and I don't think he'll be doing steps so I'll just set out this pillow and blanket for him." Ken let his eyebrow rise; it was just like Yoji to relate anything to a wild sex party. He could even see it slip in casual conversation, 'Oh I went to see a nun, she reminded me of my mom' Ken would say and Yoji would reply, to Ken's horror, 'So you have a thing for nuns huh? This great fetish club I frequent has costume parties, you'd be surprised how many nuns that show. Maybe I should take?'

"Baka na hentai Yoji!" Ken swore, snapping out of his reverie. "Oh… Omi, I'll bring you some clear soup, how does that sound? Omi…?" Ken smiled faintly he fell asleep.

††Weiß††

Aya took out a medical case from the back of his car counting the quantities of morphine and codeine. A few other favorites were there that he noted namely anti-inflammatories and packets of type o negative blood, with a bit of care he also saw some adrenalin and medications intended to pull a person from shock. That had him uncomfortable, Manx had packed this goody-bag and who else would know how Omi would handle this severe of an injury then the people who raised him? Particularly after Mamoru was replaced by Omi.

Aya recalled the very brief 'conversation' with Omi as the boy collapsed. The sound of Omi asking to know his own identity, Aya held back a hiss instead his eyes darkened. He wouldn't just let Omi escape this life, no. His old life as a Takatori brought happiness to forget but this life, no, Aya would never let Omi just run from him like that. No, he'd have to tell Aya he didn't want it before Aya would even imagine letting him walk away and out of Aya's life.

He dialed Yoji's phone number.

"Moshi-moshi." Yoji had a bit of a cheery voice on, it was a flirtatious façade to hide his real state; Aya could hear the cracking in the voice behind it.

"Kudou, did you pick up the bandages?"

Yoji nodded into the phone, "Hai, I'll meet you back at Koneko. I'm just going to pick up some cigs and liquor before I come back."

Aya understood though he disagreed, to an extent. Yoji didn't handle stress well, especially without a bad habit to distract him with. In a rare peacekeeping action Aya scoffed, "What you couldn't find a pharmacy that sell those too?"

Yoji let out a good-humored laugh, "Ha! Those bastards only had menthol, MENTHOL the nerve! They're trying to put me in an early grave. I showed them, though. I paid them in dimes and used needles."

Aya shook his head; Yoji would be that much of a schmuck to slip one into the pile just to scare someone for the sin of menthol cigarettes.

"Alright don't be too long, Ken's going out for the next pharmacy run, so remind him where you went."

"So not to raise suspicion?"

"Iie, so he has enough selection." Aya pushed his hair back out of his left eye, "Ja." With that Aya hung up the phone sure that Yoji was blinking in confusion, Aya was rarely this personable but at the moment he was trading off his emotional block for group stability. The image of a pervert pulling the youngest and dearest of them all into a van to do exactly what they thought was too much. Yoji near snapped about Asuka, Liott fresh in his ear- Omi more like a brother but still, Ken, you could all but see his eyes playing back the fire and Kase being dragged out, of course Omi was no traitor but still was Ken's best friend. Leaving Ken behind to be the survivor seemed to make the younger man's eyes break into that semi-psychotic glaze that tended to end with a fury of assaulting slashes and stabs, that's why Aya had let Ken stay back with Omi though, he'd have completely lost it if he was without his best friend reliving his ghosts again. Aya, directly opposed to Ken's philosophy for closeness, knew if he studied the injuries occurred to the boy he would get more and more angry until someone else bled, and with only Ken or Yoji around it seemed unfair to do that to either of them, especially as they were suffering too.

The car ride back to Koneko was a torture, Staring down on Omi at each opportunity given he saw red marks, scuffs, bruises, cuts, tears, hand-prints, blood spray, apparently Omi had gotten pissed off after everything was said and done, he doubted Omi's stability more so then he doubted for Ken's now. He saw that Omi had struggled to cover himself, and as he was just in boxers that left a pretty obvious ring as to what that meant to Aya, which only made him more enraged and knew Yoji would equally share that same sort of rage. All of these small things were piling onto his ever conscious mind as each detail pecked at his defenses. Another reason Yoji was off gathering bandages as Aya gathered the medicines, versus the both of them going to the same places-- Aya needed to have an emotional outbreak, coming from Aya that meant two frozen tears stay at the edges of his eyes, neither braving the foreign frontiers or so he thought, instead he cried in silence with the ever stoic face, eyes the only thing softened into sorrow versus hate.

He loved Omi and just seeing the boy in that much pain made him feel violently ill, and violent. Oh violence was aplenty and the urge to kill something petty but evil was not far from mind at all, that is one of the moments when the wall of no emotions was a rather nice gift to himself from himself. He could attack that wall and hide those pains while still taking it out in some abstract way, not even bashing himself, just attacking the wall until he could calm himself down from his anger until tired sorrow was all that was left to chance breaching the defenses of the wall, using all self control to put the brave front for Yoji he supposed that Omi probably did this more often than he admitted with his eyes.

It did make sense, you know, Omi had sad eyes and an emotional wall, he magnified feelings he did or didn't have in order to keep the others balanced, mimicking hurt when he needed to only to turn around and hide some of the most painful of things in order to not be a burden.

He remembered when he first met Omi, two years ago. Omi was so playful at times but always considerate regardless of whether he was feeling rambunctious or calm, Aya had been more open then too, having these sorts of conversations with the others, when did he freeze up so much? He wasn't even certain, but the more frigid he got the less playful Omi had been. Oh sure the boy was still genki and still bounced around as such, but he was more subdued and polite- he used to poke his tongue out after racing out of the shop for school, dictating who would do what chore while those remaining would be annoyed that they were caught by the chibi's eye and given these tasks regardless of whether they deserved them at the time or not. That memory came from the time he and Ken had trashed the flower shop in an all out brawl, Omi had just gotten a sweatdrop and stepped back after the fourth rack of flowers were broken. Of course, to make peace Omi had also made lunch for he and Ken. He smiled softly, Aya soon took over the roll of assigning what to whom and got the pleasure of yelling at the others for breaking things, with added points realizing Ken was naturally clumsy so he could slowly exact his revenge through this won war.

He sighed inwardly, 'Don't you dare forget Omi…' remembering those little things always made Aya smile even in his pain, so how could he just simply allow Omi to forget those? Those things most precious to him and to Omi, after all Omi always smiled and his genuine ones were always the best. After all, those memories could always make Omi smile, the ones where they really were almost normal- almost that family Omi clung to the notions of.

Somehow the distractions of Omi and the olden days managed to make his drive back to Koneko fractional. Aya entered the door with a solemn quiet. His eyes traced back through the main living areas to spot Ken watching Omi on the couch, leaning over him.

It was almost a warm sight to Aya to know that Omi was cared for by all of them as though he hadn't known, but the realization that if Omi woke up to have someone tall leering down at him- Ken might walk away missing some parts of himself he grew attached to- and that was only if Omi was really so out of it he didn't move in for the kill. In a somber voice Aya let out a crisp, "Ken," signaling the brunette to come towards him.

Ken walked to Aya in wonder. "Should I go out for more bandages?" Aya nodded.

"I'll check to see how he's doing, if you need to do anything while you're out- take your time, Yoji will be back soon so we'll have all the supplies we'll need until tonight." With a nod Ken dismissed himself.

"Omi, are you awake?"

The blond let a mewl be his indistinct reply.

"Omi?"

Aya walked over to Omi's computer desk and drew the chair from the desk to the side of the couch, switching it around; he sat with his legs around the back piece leaning into it. "I already know you are, Omi, so stop faking it."

The blond turned to face the couch cushions, ignoring Aya's invitation to conversing.

"Are you still in any pain?"

Omi paused for a moment, "…" a blush crept up his cheeks, mortification coming next. "…Did …were you the one… who…?"

Aya already knew where the question was going by the tone of Omi's voice, it had that nervous sound to it, the slight crackle and warmth of too much blood headed to the face simultaneously to trying to form words weighing down the facial muscles. "Hai. Are you still in any pain?"

Omi clawed at himself, trying to pull closer into his own body. 'So he knows…'

"I'm so worthless…" he whispered meekly.

"Iie, Omi, that isn't true. If there's anything you need let me know." Aya paused for a moment, "and that's an order not a request."

Omi tugged at his stomach tighter.

Aya turned around in the chair leaving his back to face Omi as he picked up a book to read. It didn't take long for Omi to let out a response, though Aya was surprised when he heard it. Anyone would, random sonic-boom quality screams could do that. He was simply glad he wasn't Ken or Yoji, for multiple reasons daily but in this case mostly because he was able to keep himself well composed.

He pivoted his neck around slowly, and in such a smooth motion was up out of the chair and kneeling beside Omi, locking his eyes into the hysterical boy's.

Softness first registered to him, to be kind and gentle and compassionate, to just hold him close, but Aya knew better. Even if Ran wanted to resist the part that knew Omi beyond relating to him knew how to act and had the control to do it. "Omi stop screaming." His voice never rose, it never showed weakness, it moved as though he were telling Hidaka to move a vase to the back room or telling Kudou to, well maybe some gentleness was there, he usually snapped at those two, but it was the same tone he'd given Omi in every authoritative conversation he'd had with him.

The blond continued to scream only a few moments longer before panting in much needed breathes. His eyes glassed over and then what was inside it seemed to shatter. Aya noted with some strangely apathetic notion that the boy was shivering. Carefully, without touching Omi or ever leaving the boy's range of sight he took the blanket and raised it to the boy's shoulders.

"I'll bring something warm for you to drink, just rest."

More hysterical panting was all the blond offered as a retort. He started to rub his left arm in a vane attempt to calm himself down.

Straining his ears he listened to the subtle sounds of the apartment, he remembered doing this from some long time ago. He had heard water then, pipes hissing complaints of too much abuse, droplets hitting concrete, he flicked his eyes over the room that was not going to help him calm down, and yet that's what his mind insisted.

He was surrounding himself in that memory, the walls growing, contorting, but anything would be better to get away from that tight space in that van and the thrusting and bucking and soreness… his eyes started to gloss over again, this time self-restraint kept them from falling closed and into an inevitable nightmare. That's all those blackouts were, a completely interactive memory, at least with his eyes open he could pierce the veil with familiarity, flowers, faces, softness…

…However short lived those were as more pain pushed through his long forgotten self. He winced as another wave of physical pain stung up his hind side, everything hurt, every last part of him. Where his body came short his mind would make up and where that too fell behind, the emotional pain of heartache knowing that Aya knew. Out of all of them he was the first and the last person Omi would ever want knowing such a thing. Yes that contradicts but you have to understand! Aya was the only person he could think of that would be able to make the hurt stop, but his eyes… that burnt into him, knowing that Aya now saw him as used and further tainted… it was impossibly hard on him. Had Ken found out the soccer player would have simply tried to coddle him to the point of stifling pain, screaming fits and shock most likely, he saw it in glimpses what he was doing, in between the horrible images in his head. Had it been Yoji he'd have tried to put some horribly happy spin on it- well maybe not happiness but horniness or adult-hood--okay so maybe he wouldn't go that far but there'd eventually be some slip up. There really was no one he'd want to know about it, in truths. It all hurt too much. Each of Weiss represented a way to hurt him that he currently was surrounded with. Physical, Mental, and Emotional.

He was still panting by time Aya had come back, by then his head spinning. He didn't want to go back into the dark though, into the arms of the dark beasts that had forced him from being an innocent, happy boy into being a murderer. His panting became faster, "Aya… Aya-kun! Help me!" He didn't know he was saying it until it was too late to pull the words back in. Aya just calmly put the saucer and cup onto the coffee table and encroached him. How could he just be so calm! Omi HATED that calm! Aya pressed his hand gently onto Omi's shoulder, locking his eyes with Omi. Omi loved that calm. The gasping started to slow into sporadic but deeper breathes, tears fell as though Omi's eyes were summer clouds caking the ground beneath him with the fat drops that made all it hit smell with wetness.

Aya just continued to bore his eyes into Omi until that panicked look softened and his breathing was normal. Omi's arms slunk to their sides.

"Daijoubu Omitchi?" Omi wiped at his eyes before smiling back at him with a strangely serene state.

How could Aya just do that? Omi didn't know yet did, it was just the Zen that is Aya. Omi turned his face down to look at his chest, raising his knees towards his chest, arms forming a headrest as they tucked around the risen legs. He turned his face to watch Aya's eyes. This was the first restful thought he had since the accident- well, incident. It isn't right to call it an accident. Omi's eyes froze in horror.

…

…

…

What did he do! When he killed him, he just let the man drive down the highway- he could have caused a car accident! Omi's hand reached for his throat, of course his mind had to take this away from him too. This calm he could have had in Aya's arms or just eyes, just knowing he could be good enough was now being ripped from him by his own actions. He acted in his best interest and in doing so could have damned some family just as his Takatori bloodline had done to Aya. His face twisted quickly back towards the couch. He had no right to have Aya comfort him after he had done something so horrible. Survival was no excuse for something like that! It's simply horrible what he could have let happen!

His hand tightened around his throat subconsciously. "Nghk…" More panting added with a choking sensation. What had he done!

"None of this was your fault. Blame the people responsible for it, not you."

How did he know? How did he just keep knowing what his thoughts were, his pains! It wasn't right for Aya to do this so easily to him, just mock his pain--

Omi felt more ashamed, Aya wasn't mocking him he was trying to help him and even then he couldn't bear to let the red head sully his hands with him. He was too revolting to touch, too disgusting to look at, too rancid to breathe, too horrible to be.

He wanted to erase this pain but what then? Reset it just to let him rack up more sins? Again with no understanding as to how or why he had made them? He still didn't know the causes to that beyond his poisoned blood and the damning of his soul that seemed to say, 'wash, rinse, repeat' to eternally pain him.

"I don't know what I've done… I don't know how to stop it…" sobs made a retching sound as they started anew. "Aya-kun… doushite…? …doushite, Aya-kun doushite!"

The arm braved Omi's side, pulling him into a tight hug. "I told you, it's not your fault. It's mine." With that, Aya leaned Omi back further into the couch and went to the kitchen to start making dinner, not a rare occurrence but usually an appreciated one.

Omi furrowed his brow still trying to make sense of that statement. It successfully left Omi's mind wander to the point where it was like a foreign concept, that everything was just like a math problem or some homework, he put everything aside completely as if closing a textbook from history to work on said math. It was exactly like that, except the history was being painfully raped.

'Why would Aya-kun say that? Oh no, does he feel guilty because of the relay idea?'

Aya re-entered the den Omi was substituting for a bedroom. He noticed Omi had a strained look on his face, as if he was trying to piece together things, he normally had that look on missions that had thin files. "Omi, what's wrong?"

He hadn't thought his statement had been that complex that the blond had to decipher it. Apparently he was more cryptic than he'd thought.

"Why would you say that? What's going on with you Aya-kun? You've been acting strange for the past few weeks and then saying something like that… what happened only happened because I got double-teamed and couldn't react fast enough…"

"Omi, do you really want me to elaborate?" He puffed out a sigh, "Well, it is fair for you to know as you've yet to figure it out. Omi, I'm the leader of Weiss, yes?" Omi nodded an affirmation.

"And I knew you were injured- and that you blacked out just the day before. That means I knew your injury wasn't just some small thing. I underestimated how it would affect your performance."

"Yeah, but then you set up the relay that gave me back up…"

"Exactly. I split us up and we took the fast and efficient route versus the safe and practical route. I didn't disagree with your assessment, do you know what that means?"

"Oh what are you going to tell me something stupid like it doesn't make you fit to lead Weiss? This stuff happens, if anything it still was the best plan to pursue. They figured out that tactic after one run-in with us. What do you think they'd have figured out if we gave them weeks! I'm just a casualty to the good idea that kept the majority of us unharmed, and I only sustained minor injured- I'll be up and moving soon enough."

"That's true _physically_ Omi, but what about mentally? Or sexually, huh Omi? You don't know if he had any diseases! And emotionally how do you feel? That, all of that, happened because I even _let_ you tag along even though you were practically dead weight."

Omi's eyes sharpened, "What do you mean dead weight? So you're saying I didn't hold my own? In case you lost count I didn't have one of them walk away from me alive. That's a better record then Ken-kun or you! So don't go all high-handed on me and act like I'm some kid who can't help himself!"

"And when's the last time Ken or I got raped?"

Omi froze. That history book just flew open. Omi wrapped his arms around himself, chilled. So this is what the alleged ice queen could do. "Why did you even have to say that… I had it suppressed… I wasn't even thinking about it, I had it bottled away why would you just destroy that!" Omi began hyperventilating, the memories from the night he got winged in the shoulder and the events of today were blending in a medley, "Does it disgust you so much, do I disgust you so much because I'm dirty now? Desecrated and defiled? I'm still the same person! You're the one acting weird and I don't understand it at all! Why are you confusing me like this? Smirking at me and saying confusing things I can't comprehend?"

He sighed and pulled his blanket from half up him, at his hips, to just at his chin. "I'd stomp out at this point, but well, you'll forgive me that I can't get up right now." Omi frumped like a cute bunny wrinkling up his nose and lips to pout.

Aya turned around calmly to face the other direction, deciding to take the verbal abuse he doubted Omi'd mean or say if he wasn't on half of those pain medications. He let out a calming breathe.

"It's because I love you, Omi. I could have made a decision that would have spared you of this. What if he gave you some horrible disease? No, how about if he just killed you? It's too much to think it could have been prevented. It wasn't some lucky pot-shot that let him drag you into a van, it's terrifying how close we all came to losing you." His voice stayed steady, Omi curled to his side completely distracted from the whole conversation save for one excerpt.

"A…Aya-kun… what did you just say?" He tried to slide himself off of the couch, doing surprisingly well in that task thanks to those painkillers.

"That I love you." He covered his one eye and brushed back some stray bangs. "And I let you down."

Omi was now standing in front of Aya, though he could tell his legs were bowing under him. "What did you say?"

"That I love you, Omi…"

"Wha…" Omi blushed, "I'm not hearing things this time? You said you…"

"Love you. Yes Omi."

Omi crashed into Aya as he guided his fall to move forward, lending him the effect of a tackle-hug. Had his legs held any strength short of holding him together, versus ripped in half like he felt he was, it would have been a flying tackle-hug.

The blond began apologizing profusely to Aya, though Aya wasn't having it.

"I'm so sorry Aya-kun… how could I have let this happen… and the…" Omi's mind was trailing off into calculations, Aya had to care about diseases because he might have already mentally progressed to where he planned on having the relationship go. "And I go and blow this by getting raped so now I don't even know if I'm sick--"

Aya pushed Omi back into a nearby wall to glare at him. "If you think I'm concerned about that for my sake you completely missed my point! And stop apologizing! It wasn't your fault."

Omi halted his speech and motion, which 'til then had been to nuzzle against Aya's chest.

"Omi?" Aya softened his gaze, point addressed now. Omi looked up at him slightly hazed. The blond looked back and forth for a moment like he should be doing something or feeling something.

"A…Aya-kun…?" He convinced Aya to let him out of the pin-hold to move to the kitchen to sit down.

"What's going on Omi?" Aya could feel it, Omi's entire aura just shifted somehow, the air around him changed in a flutter.

Omi looked around as if he just cleared a haze or ran smack into it, he just had that amazed look as if something in the world surrounding him was completely changed, but Aya wasn't quite sure if this was a positive or petrified look just yet. "This shouldn't be right… it's all still there but it's completely numb now… but I still see and feel it there…"

"Omi, how can you feel something without sensation?"

"I know, it's so strange, it's the actual feeling of no feeling." Omi looked up in amazement. "Aya-kun, I still remember what happened but… it's alien, like it happened in a movie, or to someone else."

"It's gone? But it's still there?"

"And it's not suppressed this time, no it's still in the forefront but…" Omi sat down with a thump in the chair, he winced at the pain in his back from that and grumbled. He brushed his hair past. He made a verbal count, "Shock, sorrow, anger, pleading, denial, acceptance and recovery… I hit anger, sorrow, and denial…"

"You went through shock initially, Omi."

"So, I don't think pleading would apply to this… does that possibly mean I actually hit acceptance _and_ recovery, I mean… how could I?" Omi wore the face of a scowl but his anger was merely replaced with a cognitive query.

He scoffed at himself. "I think I just mentally cleared that, but how can that have happened in so short of a time, it's like I'm a freak. Shouldn't it take longer? Isn't it supposed to? I'm supposed to be scarred for life or something… that's how I'm supposed to feel, right? So why don't I feel like that and so quickly?" He shook his head clearing the cobwebs. "I'm worried Aya-kun…" he turned his face to the side, "Is this because I'm about to suppress everything? I don't want to do that… I don't want to just run away. As a kid I know that's not so weird… but now, I don't want to lose this all."

Aya put his arms around Omi's shoulders without even the slightest bit of a jump, just like putting on a sweater. "I won't let you, so don't worry about that Omi. Just let your mind wander and try to heal up your wounds. We'll cross those bridges when we get there."

Omi smiled softly to himself and Aya, "So after all of this, do you still love me or do you hate me?"

"Hate me for being weak," he let out a low huff of air that stood in the place of a stifled laugh, "and dead weight?"

"I still love you." He hugged Omi tighter around the shoulders, fitting against him in a snug position. "Nothing can change that for me. Nothing."

Omi turned his neck, stretching it to create an elegant line that Aya associated in the instance with a crane, however his mind baled that pondering when Omi's lips met his, Omi's hand cupping Aya's right cheek to keep him turned into the gentle kiss.

Omi turned back around, then looked down. "I don't know if you think I'm dirty now, but I still love you too, however I can't accept this."

Aya looked at Omi in a brief moment of confusion.

"I can't accept you blaming yourself for not regulating me an inch from my life. So don't feel like you have to police me anymore than normal."

"I'll try to keep that in mind." Aya smirked but then let his arms fall off from around Omi's shoulders, "The others should be back soon, so I'll give you time to compose yourself as you deem necessary, I still want you resting up as much as possible though."

Omi nodded an affirmative, "Hai. Aya-kun, I should have asked earlier, but did we finish them all off? Is the threat eliminated?"

Aya gave a dark look as he accessed the thought, "Oh, they're all dead." A gleam in his eyes showed that he was rather proud of that fact.

Ken and Yoji both walked in at about the same moment, with Omi sitting up, though still not looking comfortable doing so, but other than that acting like it was just a normal day.

"He bounced back quick, doesn't he?" Yoji mentioned to Ken.

Ken walked over and hugged Omi in a way only best friends and close family hugs- bear hug.

"Don't scare me like that again, Omitchi… you still know who you are, who we are, all of us? You didn't just erase that… right?"

Omi nodded, and patted Ken's arms, "Hai, Ken-ken, I'm sorry to have worried and troubled you all, but I'm fine now, well except for my back and all that junk."

Yoji tossed Aya a bottle of painkillers and put the bandages under the counter in their normal storage place.

"Chibi, you should still get some sleep and recover." Omi agreed with Yoji's motion and slowly pulled himself up from the chair, as 'up' was harder than 'down' when it came to shuffling to and fro.

Ken took the moment to go usher Omi over to the couch and help him settle down for a few hours of restorative sleep.

"Aya, I don't know how you did it, but you did it. It's kind of dumb to say, because we all win this way, but thanks."

Aya stood up with a stoic monosyllabic pose and said, "Hn." However, he let his guard down as he was smiling to himself warmly with the thought, watching the floor, in contemplation.

"You're in love with him, aren't you? He has to love you back, Aya. I don't have to tell you this, you've been out in the world too, but go for it, you'd be a happy couple."

Aya continued to smile as he watched the floor but as he let his gaze slowly move upward in a cyclic wave he grew a slightly harder, cool look and a protective glare filled with intensity hitting Yoji. "You're right, I don't need your advice."

Smiling again to himself he kicked off the wall ending his stoic pose and walked into the den to watch Omi sleep and let Ken have a chance to do some of that too.

Completed

08/29/2006


End file.
